-19° IB' N 



CHANNEL 



R.C. STONER 



UNDERWATER- 

 SURVEY AREA 



166° 36' E. 



"•ii^^PtKOCK POINT 



Figure I . --Wake Island. 



maximum depth of 3-4 m. 



Immediately after the grounding, a large 

 quantity of fuel spilled from the damaged tanks. 

 It was believed to consist primarily, of aviation 

 gas, J-P4 jet fuel, and possibly A-1 turbine 

 fuel. However, the following day bunker C fuel 

 was also escaping in considerable quantity 

 (Figure 3). Gasoline vapor could be smelled 

 until September 9, but not subsequently, indi- 

 cating that the vessel was clear of gasoline 

 within the first few days. 



Unsuccessful attempts to pull the R.C.Stoner 

 from the reef with her cargo intact made it 

 apparent that it would be necessary to lighten 

 the vessel before salvage operations could pro- 

 ceed. However, continuing southwesterly winds 

 and rough seas caused by the recent close pas- 

 sage of typhoon Opal and tropical storm Rita 

 delayed salvage. Southwesterly winds of 18 to 

 25 knots continued until the morning of Sep- 

 tember 16. 



On September 8, the stern section of the 

 R. C. Stoner broke off and plans to float the 

 vessel free were abandoned. During the first 



3 days after the grounding, the prevailing south- 

 westerly wind drove the escaping fuel into the 

 small boat harbor and along the coast for about 



4 km towards Peacock Point (Figure 1). It was 

 estimated that as much as 2,285 kilters (600,000 

 gal) of mixed fuels covered the surface of the 

 small boat harbor with a layer up to 20 cm 

 thick (Figure 4). The volume of petroleum 

 products washed up on the south coast was not 

 estimated. Only small quantities of oil reached 

 the shore on the Wilkes Island coast to the 

 northwest of the harbor entrance and relatively 

 few dead fish were seen stranded on that shore. 



Large numbers of dead fish were stranded 

 mostly along two high-water levels between the 

 harbor entrance and Peacock Point. The odor 

 of putrefying fish was strong as far as 3.2 km 

 away. The intensity of the kill diminished 



